Format:
Online-Ressource (2 p. l., vii-xv, 718 p.)
,
27 cm
Content:
"From beginning to end, this essay toward a systematic appraisal of psychology leans heavily upon a set of functional or dynamic facts which are derived from the study of the behavior, or of the modes of adjustment of living creatures to their natural, and in the case of men, both to their natural and cultural environments. But it does not, on that account, hold a brief for any of the more radical forms of behaviorism, or even for an excessive positivism. On the contrary, it maintains that there is a psychological or methodological behaviorism which is the necessary premise of all the isms. The laboratory leads straight to the description of certain kinds of functional activities which are quite adequate to the entire range of mental facts as revealed in human and animal performances. It holds, moreover, that some such point of view is the only point of view which will sustain the full burden of experimentation, and provide both the first and second order data about human nature which must be an integral part of any consistent plans for normative action on problems of personal, social, and cultural control. The mere mention of the word behavior will not, of course, inspire confidence. One of the reasons is that this word still excites men's emotions and their antipathy instead of their seasoned and considered judgments. It is a bitter truth, however, that the behavior of men is one of the most stubborn, and just now, one of the most distressing facts in nature. Another reason for suspicion is that the word experimental, when attached to psychology, implies a discrepancy between that which men say about the nature of human nature, and that which they persistently do with respect to it in the laboratory. It is this discrepancy which is the occasion for much of the confusion in psychology, and for restless doubt about the use of the word behavior in connection with mental facts. That which men do in the laboratory concerns, first of all, an examination of the performances of living creatures, and only by inference their minds,--to say nothing of their states of consciousness. But it has been difficult to gain for a verbal statement of this laboratory procedure, and for the concepts suggested by the data that are gained, the same dispassionate appraisal that is readily given to propositions in each of the other rapidly developing sciences. It has not been found any more profitable, of course, to render a psychological account of disenchanted clay than it formerly was to render a behavioral account of disembodied souls. But there must be some way to look at men and their doings from that total perspective demanded by the dignity of the subject, and by the demonstrated fruitfulness of the experimental method, which will be systematically significant; and it is the purpose of this book to try to find that way. The attempt is justified on the grounds that, in addition to the status of one science among all the rest, and of the urgent importance of its subject matter, there are profound social and cultural implications of a full view of the nature of human nature"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)
Note:
"Published ... under the auspices of the Graduate school in commemoration of the seventy-fifth year of the University of Illinois.". - Includes bibliography and author index. "Bibliography (and author index)" : p. 657-708. - Electronic reproduction; Washington, D.C; American Psychological Association; 2005; Available via the World Wide Web; Access limited by licensing agreement; s2005 dcunns
Language:
English
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